Not my enemies ever invade me – no harm to my pride from them I fear;
But the lovers I recklessly love – lo! how they master me!
Lo! me, ever open and helpless, bereft of my strength!
Utterly abject, grovelling on the ground before them.
The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad for life, mad for talking, mad for poetry.
Not my enemies ever invade me – no harm to my pride from them I fear;
But the lovers I recklessly love – lo! how they master me!
Lo! me, ever open and helpless, bereft of my strength!
Utterly abject, grovelling on the ground before them.